


There Is No Mountain Too Tall To Overcome

by wingsofthenight



Series: After the Nightmare [1]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Guilt, Kyrie doesn't deserve dealing with all this crap, Post Devil May Cry 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 12:39:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18282551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsofthenight/pseuds/wingsofthenight
Summary: Dante and Vergil get out of Hell and land in Fortuna. This doesn’t necessarily solve a lot of their problems. There is still the matter of Nero after all...





	There Is No Mountain Too Tall To Overcome

**Author's Note:**

> Note: So, three minor things before we get started:  
> 1) Dante has popped in to bug Nero and Kyrie occasionally in the years between 4 and 5, so they’re both pretty familiar with him. He hasn’t been by since Nico arrived, but he has talked with them on the phone, most recently shortly after Nero got his arm ripped off but before getting hired by V.  
> 2) I refuse to listen to canon on the no money thing. Be glad I don’t or this would get ugly. Dante is not rich by any stretch of the imagination, and a recent drought in missions has made his situation slightly tighter than usual, but he can afford power and water. Nero and Kyrie… well, they are a bit worse off, but that isn’t actually necessarily their fault. That will be addressed in later fics. Meant to here, but couldn’t figure out a natural way to bring it up.  
> 3) Kyrie can and will curse fight me!

**July 24 th, 2:46 pm**

Kyrie frowned the moment she heard the faint knock from the kitchen. Nero and Nico would have just come in through the garage, the kids would have rang the doorbell if they didn’t just burst in, and none of their neighbors would be coming by, especially not at this time of day.

Quickly wiping her soapy hands off on her apron and placing it on the back of a chair, she hurried to the door, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid another round of knocking and some muffled voices. Trying not to get her hopes up even though the knock and one of the voices were very familiar, she opened the door to find a smiling and very familiar white haired man in red.

“Hey Kyri-“ Dante had enough time to get out before she all but launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. She felt more than heard him chuckle as he returned the hug. “Guess I don’t need to ask if you missed me, do I?”

Kyrie let out a light chuckle, pulling back far enough to smile at him. “Dante, I did, but if I may quote my wonderful lover, you are a dumbass.”

He just laughed at that. “Oh, if you say that, it must be true then!”

“So it appears her word is much more believable than mine. I have been telling you that you are since we came out of the womb.”

Kyrie froze for a moment after that, but quickly got over her surprise. She had heard the entire story from Nero of course, so it should not have been a shock as to who would have arrived with Dante. Forcing a small smile on her face, she let go of the red devil hunter to glance at the man standing behind and to the side of him.

The thing that struck her first wasn’t how much he looked like Dante- though he did, they were the identical twins that Dante had admitted to being before- but how much he looked like _Nero._

It shouldn’t have been surprised. She had long since assumed that Dante himself was related to her lover because they looked too alike not to be. The only thing that had kept her from asking was Nero pretending that he didn’t want to know what exactly their relation was, but seeing this man, the man she knew now to be Nero’s father…

The man was staring at the wall with all the appearances of a bored man, but she was much better at reading people than others assumed. He was unsure of whether he should even be here, feeling like he had no place here.

She did have a lot of things she felt he should hear, but it wasn’t her place to tell him, and regardless of that, he was still _family._

So, Kyrie just took his hand and smiled at him. “You must be Vergil! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”

Vergil was good at hiding his emotions, but nowhere near as well as she would have expected. There were too many moments where she could not figure out what Dante was thinking no matter how hard she tried despite having known him for almost five years. But with Vergil, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, she could still plainly see the shock in his eyes.

He cleared his throat a bit, but did say, “You’re this Kyrie Dante has told me about, I presume? Well, anyone that will call my brother what he is is someone that I approve of.”

She laughed, letting go of his hand and all but pushed them into the house. “Come in! You must be hungry now, and there should be some stuff to tide you two over until dinner. I do insist you wash first, and no Dante I will not accept no for an answer this time. You are both free to use anything in our home, I have told you this too many times Dante!”

Dante just laughed and gave Vergil a bit of a push towards the bathroom. “You first Verge, you were the one that finally got us out because you wanted a shower after all!”

“I was tired of your stench.”

“Yeah, sure you were, just go!”

Kyrie gigged a bit. “I doubt Nero would have much problem with you using some of his shampoo so long as you don’t use too much of it. It should be under the sink.”

Vergil didn’t turn around, but did incline his head as he disappeared down the hall.

Kyrie waited until the door was locked before grabbing Dante’s arm and dragging him into the kitchen and over to the sink. “Wash your hands and I’ll bring out some food, and then we _will_ talk about all of this,” she demanded, leaving him to do just that.

After all the food was placed on the table and she warned him to leave some for his brother, she sat down across from him with a glass of water. “How did you get out of Hell? Nero was worried about you.”

“Vergil has Yamato you know,” Dante pointed out after having swallowed the bite he’d taken. “Part of why I went with him was to make sure he remembered that and actually came back. I mean, he has a lot to explain to everyone, he’s not getting out of it that easily. Which is why I was surprised he came here to begin with, though Fortuna is just one of those places it is easier to open a portal to from everything I’ve figured out.”

She filed away the fact that coming here seemed to be Vergil’s idea, instead frowning upon being reminded of the sword. “Why did he take Yamato to begin with? I know it was originally his, but the way he retook it…” She let out a sharp breath, unable to continue.

(She was doing her best to keep Nero from finding out, but the memory of her love lying unconscious on the ground with his Devil Bringer just _gone_ was something she doubted would leave her nightmares anytime soon.)

Dante didn’t say anything for awhile, just finished his sandwich before staring down at his plate. He finally sighed and asked, “Did I ever tell you why I was so sure he was dead?”

Kyrie leaned back, closing her eyes in sympathy. “You said he was corrupted.”

“Yeah. Not sure what exactly that entitled and I’m not going to ask, but he wasn’t in a good place. Not saying it excuses anything because will never, but it explains it. Not going to act like he wasn’t already amazing at making terrible decisions, but he was pretty much dying in agony. Probably made things worse… but I get why he did something as drastic as split himself in two.”

She had heard everything from Nero, everything about V and the rest of the hell they had gone through. She did have her own opinions of what he did, but something that Nero hadn’t told her but that she definitely gathered from his words was that he really just wanted to get to know his family he now knew existed.

“Hey what day is it?” Dante asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“July 24th.”

“Yes! Only a little more than a month this time! Thought for sure it would be longer than that like it was last time. Guess pointing out to Verge that his hair was almost black from dirt and watching him freak was worth it.”

Deciding to question the “last time” at a later date, Kyrie instead asked, “You thought it would be longer?”

Dante shrugged, making a third sandwich. “Time runs differently down in Hell. Feels like you’re down there for longer and shorter than you actually are. I really can’t give an estimate on how long I thought we were down there for, just that it was awhile. Hope I can get ahold of the girls soon and make sure they don’t follow through on their threat to trash my place if I ever get stuck in Hell for more than two months again…”

“Again?”

“Yeah I got stuck there for like three months about… maybe ten years ago or something? Got out and the girls felt bad enough that they paid for pizza for the next month, so it’s all good.” Before she could question him further on this, his eyes shot to the kitchen door before saying quietly enough that she had to strain to hear him, “Kyrie… please talk to him. I’m not sure I can make him talk to me. It feels like every time I think about trying, something happens and I don’t because…” at that, he trailed off, shaking his head and turning his attention back to his food.

Kyrie frowned and was about to make him elaborate even though she could very much guess at his reasoning from everything he had told her before, but before she could she heard footsteps coming down the hall and instead shook her head and tried to calculate just how much more groceries she needed to buy tomorrow. Considering just how much Nero and Dante could eat in one sitting and there was going to be another half devil staying here for the foreseeable future…

She was jolted out of her thoughts when Vergil walked into the kitchen. Yes, he really did resemble both of the other white-haired men she knew well. There were a few slight differences between him and Dante besides the hair, and Nero definitely had some traces of whoever his mother was in him, but on the whole…

Putting on a smile, she said, “Vergil! I hope the shower was to your liking, sometimes the water pressure decides to be difficult.”

Vergil blinked at her, slowly saying, “It... was satisfactory.”

Dante snorted, rolling his eyes when his twin shot him a look. “Well, I hope Mr. ‘I can’t give compliments like a normal person’ left some hot water, because I really want to finally get all this grime off of me. Sorry to ask, but you still have some of that coat washing stuff I can use Kyrie?”

“Dante, I told you before, you can ask me anytime. You as well Vergil, would you like me to wash yours while I’m at it?”

Vergil just blinked at her and quickly clutched onto his jacket, causing Dante to roll his eyes at him. “Come on bro, Kyrie takes good care of coats. In fact, she probably does a better job than most professionals. Keep telling her that she should open up a full-blown tailor shop but she still hasn’t for some reason.”

Kyrie just coughed and tried to fight the blush that arose every single time he brought that up. “He’s exaggerating-“

“No, I’m not! Seriously, wished you lived in Capulet, have to go a couple cities over to get one of my coats fixed if I need it.”

She coughed and immediately changed the subject. It was something she and Nero had thought about more than once after all, but at the moment there was just no way to accomplish that, and she didn’t want Dante to get more involved than he already was. “I am perfectly willing to wash your coat still, Vergil. Those wonderful designs on it do look like they need a touch up soon.”

The eldest person in the room pressed his lips into a thin line, but reluctantly took his coat off and handed it to her, and she carefully placed it on the back of one of the empty chairs. She was a little surprised that the shirt he was wearing under it was sleeveless, being used to Dante and more recently Nero wearing ones with sleeves, but didn’t comment on it as she took the younger twin’s and shooed him off to the bathroom.

Leaving her alone with Vergil.

Kyrie shook her head and resolutely turned to him, seeing him stare at the food on the table with a somewhat hesitant expression on his face, like he had no idea what to do. She furrowed her brows for a moment, confused as to what about sandwiches would make him hesitant, when it hit her.

If he’d been corrupted and stuck in Hell for years…

She quickly ushered him into a chair, making sure to keep any sympathy off of her face as she could already tell that he wouldn’t take well to what he’d see as pity. Grabbing a couple pieces of bread, she asked, “Would you prefer turkey or ham?”

He just blinked at her. “…Turkey?”

Somewhat amused that the twins had the exact same taste in sandwich meat, she quickly made a couple the same way that Dante liked his, assuming correctly that he wouldn’t have much of a problem with it, setting them down on a plate in front of him.

Instead of digging in like she could tell he wanted to, Vergil just stared at them for the longest time, finally making her ask if there was something wrong.

“Why?”

She cocked her head a bit in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Why are you being so kind to me? You know what I have done. You of all people should despise me instead of showing forgiveness and this kindness.”

Kyrie stayed silent for several long moments, just collecting her thoughts, before finally sighing and slowly saying, “I’m… not entirely sure it’s forgiveness. Not yet at least.” And, to be quite frank, possibly not ever, though only time would tell. “But you have been through more than enough and don’t deserve anything other than kindness after all of that.”

Vergil’s head shot up to stare at her. “You’ve talked to Dante.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. Maybe you should as well. Communication is very important, after all.”

The words came out before she could stop them, but instead of letting the guilt show on her face, she just shook her head. “Vergil… I should have said that in a kinder way, but…”

Vergil just slowly shook his head, eyes closed and attempting to keep a neutral mask on his face. “You act like it was only my fault.”

“I didn’t mean to imply I think that.” If there was one thing that she had learned Dante regretted over the past few years, it was that. “But I think that you’ll have to be the first one to make a move if you want to still have a brother. Silence doesn’t help anything. I know that all too well. If I had reached out to my brother and talked to him, he may still be alive today.”

For all that Nero mourned the fact that he couldn’t save Credo, she regretted her actions- or rather non action- just as much. If she had just talked to Credo before he had followed the path that he did, could she have kept him from the mistakes he made? Or would the same outcome have happened?

It was something that actually brought her and Dante closer together, the what ifs. They both thought they should have done more, should have done more to pull their older brother back from the abyss they dangled over.

She couldn’t bring Credo back, refused to even contemplate going down that road that would never bring anything more than pain. But Vergil was here and sitting right in front of her. Dante had the chance to get his brother back, and she refused to do anything other than help both of these broken people fix their relationship.

Vergil just stared at her in shock for a moment, before closing his eyes and looking away. “You presume that it is possible,” he said flatly.

Kyrie slowly shook her head, placing a hand on his shoulder to make him look up at her. “It is. Dante wants his brother back. His twin is, now he just needs his brother.”

The white haired man just stared at her, icy blue eyes suddenly very moist, before clearing his throat and looking away, quickly grabbing a sandwich and biting into it, making a noise of appreciation that made her giggle. “I’m very glad you like it,” she smiled, removing her hand and going back to the dishes.

“It is very satisfactory.”

She was quickly realizing that was high praise from him, and so continued to smile as she returned to her task, grin only widening when she heard him make a couple more sandwiches before even finishing the first.

 

* * *

 

**3:19 pm**

Nero scowled as he opened the garage door. Of course the kids wanted to stay out for a bit longer until sunset and of course Nico “volunteered” him to walk back to tell Kyrie. Why had they decided to take them to the other side of town again? At least some of the more competent knights that didn’t act like jerks to them were around to make sure everything would be alright…

He took a deep breath, freezing for a split second before rushing into the main house. He was still getting used to relying on his other senses now that his Bringer was gone, but he knew for a fact what he was sensing. Something with demonic ancestry was there. Kyrie wasn’t screaming, nor could he smell any blood, so whoever it was probably didn’t have any horrible intentions.

His instincts were also telling him that this was someone that wouldn’t harm him, not anymore, which only made him even more confused and did nothing to prevent the shock he felt when he burst into the kitchen.

He heard Kyrie great him, telling him that their other guest was currently showering (the part of his mind that was paying attention was relieved that yes, his other family was safe too), but his attention was only on the man sitting at the table staring at him apprehensively.

Vergil.

His _father._

He’d thought about him too many times these past few weeks, had run through this type of scenario so many times, but seeing him in front of him… he didn’t know whether to hug him or punch him.

He ended up doing both. Vergil stiffened in shock when his arms went around him, but that didn’t stop him from being thrown across the floor when he summoned his new Devil Bringer and punched him in the face hard enough for a gush of blood to come out of his nose.

“Nero!” Kyrie admonished him, moving quickly to hold a cloth to Vergil’s nose before glaring at him. “Was that really necessary?”

Nero made a disgruntled noise, grabbing a glass and pouring him some water. Maybe it wasn’t, but…

“Wow. Got to say, looks like that hurt more than it did when you got me.”

Nero turned to stare at the other half devil peaking out from the doorframe with a wide grin on his face. “You know, hiding isn’t a good thing,” he said, rolling his eyes but unable to keep the corners of his lips from curling up.

Dante just laughed, finally stepping into the kitchen. “I call it a healthy appreciation for how much that thing hurts. Seriously, it might be the attack that came closest to killing me.”

“Considering the amount of times you’ve told me you’ve gotten stabbed with your own swords, I doubt that,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

The legendary devil hunter just snickered and clapped a hand on his shoulder before walking over to his brother and grinning down at him. “Got to say, your face looks a lot better this way. Nero did a good job.”

Nero found it kind of sad that Vergil thought that was a really good death glare. Then again, considering how Kyrie was looking at him somewhat warily, maybe just beating him up gave one immunity. Either way, it was kind of pathetic, and he rolled his eyes at him while his uncle just laughed.

Before anything else could be said that would probably start a fight, Kyrie put the bloody rag on the counter and wiped her hands off on her apron. “There’s some sandwich meat left on the table if you want some Nero. Dante, can you help me take the coats out to the garage so I can start washing them?”

Dante was about to protest, looking between him and Vergil- he hated that concern even though he knew that it was warranted- but kept silent when Kyrie touched his arm and inclined her head to the door. He still looked hesitant, looking between them again apprehensively, but followed her without a word.

Leaving Nero alone with Vergil.

Practically cracking from the awkwardness in the air but not knowing how exactly to break it, the devil hunter started putting together his own turkey sandwich less because he was all that hungry and more because he just needed to do _something_ with his hands.

“Kyrie… she is very kind,” Vergil started, causing Nero to look over at him.

“Yeah, she is,” he said simply, taking a bite of his food. “Not as naïve as you’d expect, but she definitely just tries to help everyone and is the nicest person you’re going to meet. I mean, she actually became friends with an ostracized orphan like me, so there’s that.”

Vergil just stared at him in what seemed like shock. “You did not grow up with your mother?”

Trying to keep down the wave of irritation that tried to arise at him of all people asking that, he said shortly, “No. I did not. Was apparently left at the door of the orphanage in a black blanket.”

The white haired man just stared at him without actually looking at him, looking like he was lost in some kind of memory.

Just as he was about to scream at him for daring to get upset about that after everything he did, after having abandoned him himself, there was a crash coming from the garage. Realizing that it was more than likely nothing but deciding that anything was better than staying here, he walked down the short hallway and peaked in to find Dante hurriedly picking up some tools he and Kyrie had apparently knocked over while Kyrie’s face was as bright red as Dante’s coat. Smiling a bit, he yelled out, “Maybe you should work on your balance there old man!”

Dante just rolled his eyes at him. “Whatever, kid.” Putting all of the tools back in the box, he stretched and asked Kyrie, “You good here? I need to use the phone, call some people.”

She just smiled at him. “Feel free, let the others know you’re okay.”

The man smiled at her before walking over to the door, clapping Nero on the shoulder as he passed by.

“Dante,” he called, making him stop and look over at him questionably. He took in a deep breath before looking away and asking, “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Dante was silent for several seconds and he was half afraid he’d said something wrong, but finally his uncle sighed, “I wanted to. I meant to when you asked if I was your dad, but then we got distracted and you never brought it up again, and I figured you were fine with not knowing for sure. I should have told you before all of this though, kept some of that shit from happening.”

Nero sighed, shaking his head. “Not really your fault. I was the one being stupid.” On a lot of things, and not just the not asking thing. It was pretty obvious they were related after all…

His uncle just let out a humorless chuckle. “You and me both then.” With that, he walked further into the house, leaving him standing in the door. He looked down the short hallway for several long moments before heading into the garage.

Kyrie looked up at him as he entered, but didn’t say anything and just turned her attention back to the coat she was cleaning. He let out a deep sigh, crossing over to the tool box and making sure everything was put in correctly, which of course they were so he didn’t have an excuse to take them all out and put them back in the perfect places and have something to do with his hands.

“He acted shocked that I wasn’t raised by whoever the hell gave birth to me,” Nero finally growled out, slamming the lid on the tool box with enough force he was half surprised it didn’t break. “Why the fuck does he think he has any right to be upset about that? He’s the one that got some woman pregnant and then ran off and got himself enslaved by a fucking demon! And then what the hell does he do after he gets out? Decides to rip off my fucking arm instead of, I don’t know, just talking to me like a normal person, and then went to create Hell on Earth! Why the fuck does he think he has any right to come here and try to talk to me!”

“Nero,” Kyrie softly said, gently taking his hand off the now twisted handle of the lid and gently rubbing circles on his palm in an attempt to calm him. “No one’s saying that you have to forgive him. I haven’t.”

That more than anything else stopped his anger dead in it’s tracks. “You haven’t?” he whispered.

She just gave him a wan smile. “I haven’t forgiven a lot of people, especially the ones that refuse to change how they treat you and everyone else,” she said bitterly, making him blink at her in shock. “I just try not to let it show, because anger doesn’t help anything.”

Nero just stared at her, trying to process that. “Kyrie-”

She lifted a hand to cut him off. “Nero, you want to get to know him. I remember you being disappointed when Dante told you that he wasn’t your father. You never brought it up again, but you wanted to know for sure that you were related and if he could tell you anything about your parents.”

He shook his head, closing his eyes with a brittle smile on his face. No matter how many times she managed to get a full reading on his emotions it always surprised him.

“No one’s telling you that you have to forgive him,” she continued, reaching out a hand to cup his cheek. “But Nero, please at least talk to him. I don’t think you’ll forgive yourself if you don’t.”

“I did just talk to him. It was awkward.”

“Actually talk to him. Have a full conversation with him. Lay out your grievances at the very least. If he reacts bad… well, you tried at least, but there is every chance he’ll want to make up for everything he did.”

Nero let out a bitter chuckle, running a hand through his hair. “You’re going to make me regardless, aren’t you.”

Kyrie just smiled at him. “Possibly, but you being willing would make things so much easier. You might actually get some sort of conversation done.

“Not… not right now, okay?”

“Of course. Can you help me with this coat?”

Well, at least getting distracted appreciating the fact that he can actually feel the leather and not having to be careful to not claw holes in it would help keep his mind off of things.

“By the way, Nero, you never asked how they came back.”

“Remember that night a couple weeks after getting back where I suddenly cursed loud enough to get into that argument with Nico?”

“Ah. You remembered Yamato then.”

“Yep. Wish I hadn’t so I had more excuses to punch them.”

“Nero…”

 

* * *

 

**3:34 pm**

Dante sighed, throwing the phone back on it’s base. He’d tried contacting his shop because he knew that the girls were more than likely hanging out there like usual but no answer. Figuring they could just be out, he’d tried calling Morrison and no response from him either.

He sighed again, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed. He just wanted to let his friends know he was alive and not to paint his walls some garish color like they’d threatened they would if he ever got stuck in Hell for months again, was that too much to ask? Maybe if he tried Lady’s cell…

He shook his head to try and get those thoughts out of his head, just barely catching a very familiar figure disappearing down the other hall, the door opening and closing barely a second later. Frowning, he waited a couple minutes before following, knowing that he could track them easily as there were only two other people with devil blood on this stupid island.

_Definitely Vergil judging by the scent, like I thought. What’s he doing? He wouldn’t be leaving like this. If nothing else he would have taken his coat…_

Dante made sure to stay far enough back that Vergil wasn’t able to sense him, meaning he only caught glimpses of him every now and then, but the only one in this damned city that had a similar scent was Nero and he could easily tell them apart.

His frown deepened when he saw his twin stop in front of the gates to the cemetery. Even from here he could see his brother hesitate before taking a deep breath and walking through the open gates. Making a decision he may or may not end up regretting, he followed after waiting another few moments.

He didn’t have to walk far. Vergil stopped in front of a grave about halfway up before collapsing onto his hands and knees. If he concentrated, he could hear the ragged apologies coming from his brother’s mouth.

Well, he was in for a lot of pain probably, but he couldn’t- _wouldn’t-_ leave him there to grieve alone. Not when it was clear what grave this was.

To Dante’s surprise, Vergil didn’t even look up at him as he approached, nor did he have to hurriedly get into position to block an attack.

Instead, all his brother said was, “Leave. I do not need your mocking.”

Dante shook his head, kneeling beside his brother within arm reach but not daring to reach out just yet. “I’m not here for that,” he said softly, looking at his brother for a moment before turning back to the grave.

Aria. Born a couple months before them… but died several years ago, when Nero would have been about twelve. That did raise a few questions, but if he was remembering something Kyrie told him about one time right…

“You know,” he said after a moment, still in that soft tone, “Kyrie told me about some of the people that volunteered at the orphanage when they were kids. One of them was named Aria. She thought for sure she would have taken Nero in if she had been allowed to. Even though she never was, being single and unmarried- apparently she turned down every courting request she got despite the pressure people put on her- she still spent as much time as she could with Nero.”

“Did she… did she ever say what happened to her?”

That vulnerable tone… Dante impulsively put a hand on his twin’s shoulder, needing to give some sort of comfort even if it was unwanted. To his surprise, he wasn’t shrugged off. “She doesn’t know for sure. It wasn’t related to demons though, she knows that for sure.” He hated how exactly she knew that wasn’t what happened, but unfortunately that was something he was far too used to in his line of work. “She thinks that she just got sick and no one caught it in time.”

Vergil let out a ragged chuckle, sounding like he was about to break down. “She always was one to ignore her body telling her to slow down.”

Taking an even bigger chance, Dante inched closer to his brother, throwing his arm around his shoulders in as close of a hug as he was probably going to get. Vergil didn’t lean in, but he also didn’t pull away, and so he chose to consider that a win.

(He refused to say a word about the tear tracks he could see from the corner of his eye. Some things were best left unacknowledged, especially with how fragile their relationship was at this point.)

Eventually, Vergil sighed again. “You have not asked. You said you were curious about how things happened, yet you have not said a word.”

“Heh. Don’t think this is the best time.”

His brother just looked over at him, seemingly trying to read something. “You… you are not how I remember.”

Dante raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Vergil just shook his head, looking back at the grave again, reaching out a hand to touch it, tracing her name.

“I wanted to come back,” he whispered, retracting his hand, his arm limply hanging at his side. “I wanted to give her anything she could ever want. She always wanted to see the world outside of this island. I told her I would find us a place just for us, that I would come back. I never even knew she was pregnant…”

Dante closed his eyes, able to feel the guilt and grief rolling off of his brother. He hated being somewhat empathetic at times like these. That was one byproduct of his blood he’d never get used to.

“We can’t go back Verge,” he whispered back, tightening his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Believe me, there’s lots of things I wish I could go back and change if I could. We were both stupid teens. Looking back, I really was as foolish as you kept telling me I was.”

That got him a bitter upturn of his brother’s lips. “I called you that, but I should have looked at myself.”

“No, we were both idiots. And all we can do is move on. Took me too long to realize that, but it’s really our only option.”

Vergil sighed. “How?”

Dante sighed, looking up at the sky. There were clouds in the sky, but it was still too clear for this kind of conversation. Shouldn’t it be completely overcast for heavy topics like this?

“Well, first off, go talk to Nero,” he said, looking back at his brother that was resolutely avoiding his gaze. “Kid deserves an apology for a lot of things. After that we’ll figure out something.”

“’We?’”

“Yeah, you don’t think that I’m going to leave you alone, do you? Nah, got to take my revenge somehow and annoy you to death!”

That got a real chuckle. “I changed my mind. You truly have not changed.”

Dante just laughed, patting his brother on the back before finally letting go and standing up. He hesitated, smile slipping as he looked back at the grave. “…You want to stay here for a bit longer?”

Vergil said nothing for several long moments, fingers reaching out to trace the name on the grave. “…No. I need to set one thing right.” His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. “If she were here, she would tell me that I was being an idiot and drag me to talk to Nero herself.”

Dante just barely kept himself from making a joke about all the men in their family falling for women that wouldn’t take no for an answer. Not only was that pretty tasteless considering they were standing in front of a grave, he also didn’t want to dredge up feelings he tried to leave in the past right now. Or ever, especially in front of Vergil. The teasing went two ways unfortunately.

Instead of saying a word, he just clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder as he stood up, silently offering as much comfort as he could.

Judging by the way his brother slightly leaned into the touch, he was finally getting somewhere with it.

 

* * *

 

**4:46 pm**

Saying he was going to do something and then trying to actually do it was just as awkward as Vergil remembered.

Why he was surprised was beyond him. The only reason they had stayed in that infernal Hell so long was because neither he nor Dante was willing to give up first. In some ways he thanked that 29th horde for coming when it did. It had been pleasing to feel clean water running down his skin for the first time in… twenty years…

He mentally shook his head. No. Do not think about it. Do not let anyone know your pain. It was bad enough that Dante had seen him in such a moment of weakness, but letting Nero, the only other one in this room full of tension now that Kyrie had dragged his brother off somewhere?

No… Nero had already seen him, hadn’t he? His memories of the time he had spent ripped in two were hazy (partially of his own volition- he had no wish to remember his time as that despicable demon that had lost any sense of purpose), but he couldn’t stop the memory from replaying, the one of being carried to his objective once all strength had left him, of telling him exactly what he had always wanted…

(Did he know what Nero was to him then? He had assumed he was Dante’s for some infernal reason, but regardless…)

Nero shifted as if to get up, making him all but panic and say, “You deserve explanations.”

His son- _his son-_ looked over at him in surprise. “Well, yeah, I kind of do. Wasn’t expecting you to make the first move though.”

Vergil had to force down the wave of annoyance that tried to rise. Nero had every reason to think that after all, and it had some root in his past, he would admit that much. Shaking his head to dispel those thoughts, he admitted, “I was not anywhere near what one would call a right mind, but… you did not deserve any of the pain I brought to you, whether it was recent or in the distant past.”

He could not bring himself look at him, but he still sensed the complete and utter shock coming from the child- no, the man in front of him. Clearly, he had not expected what he had said. To be honest, neither had he. He never said those feelings of regret out loud. Attempted to show, yes, but never out loud. Not to anyone, no matter how much they deserved to hear it. Nero, however, was quickly proving to be the exception.

Neither of them said anything for awhile. Vergil had already said his part. Whatever happened next was up to Nero to decide.

Finally, Nero said quietly, “I always wondered who my parents were. Never thought I’d ever get to meet them and eventually just gave up any hope after awhile and acted like I was fine. Kind of convinced myself I was too.”

“Nero-“

“I’m not done. I was actually kind of disappointed when Dante told me he was sure I wasn’t his. Yeah, it would have made things more awkward, but at least then I would’ve _known.”_ He let out a bitter chuckle, shaking his head. “I didn’t know you were until he told me to try and keep me from going after you. Should have guessed though. I mean, we were related somehow. Think I was trying to convince myself it was a moot point, that knowing wouldn’t change anything. Was really only trying to ignore my disappointment I guess.”

Vergil shook his head. “It would have been better if he was,” he admittedly quietly. Dante would not have abandoned him. He would have left information for his child’s mother to find him. And he would not have raised that damned tower to begin with.

He had wondered what would have happened had their roles been switched, but he knew his twin would not have made the same mistake he did. He did not know what exactly would have happened, but even as children Dante had been different. More caring, less prone to assuming their human blood was worthless.

If only he had been willing to listen when his brother had tried to tell him that, had listened to what Aria made him feel, had remembered both their father and mother’s lessons sooner…

“Maybe,” Nero agreed, pulling him from his thoughts. “We’ll never know though. What I want to know though is… what are you going to do now?”

Dante had asked the same thing not long ago. He had been relieved when another group of demons had chosen to attack at that moment to spare him from answering- the first time Hell had done anything slightly kind to him- but he sincerely doubted that that would spare him this time.

For once, he decided to just say the whole truth. Nero was truly proving to be the exception to everything even though they had just met.

“I do not know,” he said softly, refusing to look at him. “Dante all but dragged me with him once we realized just where we landed, but I do not know where to go from here.”

He hoped Nero knew just how much it cost him to admit this, but he truly did not have a clue. Dante may act like he wanted him around, but it was only a matter of time before that changed. There was too much between them.

“If you’re trying to make me say you can stay here, you got to ask Kyrie, she’s the one really in charge.”

Vergil could not help the snort that decided to escape. “It seems there is one constant in the world regarding relationships.”

“What’s that?”

“The woman is always in charge.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.” Nero hesitated a bit before sighing and saying, “I uh… look, I don’t forgive you. Not yet at least, not sure if ever.”

Vergil slowly nodded. It was what he expected after all, and was more reassuring than being welcomed with open arms with everyone pretending he never did a single thing wrong. It hurt far more than he was willing to admit even to himself, but it was what he deserved.

“But,” Nero continued, “I don’t… don’t go skipping off. That really wouldn’t help anything. Besides… Kyrie would be sad not to see you more, and I doubt Dante would be happy with you fucking off again.”

He wasn’t so bad at reading between the lines to miss what he was saying. “I won’t,” he said, letting the corner of his lips curl up. It was something he was still surprised about, having anything to be happy about. He never thought he would be after… after.

“So,” Nero said, scratching his nose and looking away, “since we’re talking about awkward stuff, mind telling me just who my mom was?”

Vergil sucked in a breath. He knew this was coming eventually, but so soon after what he had discovered earlier… “Aria,” he whispered, fighting to keep his emotions in check.

_“….What?!?”_ Nero yelped. “Aria?!? She was my-“ he cut himself off, shaking his head with a stricken look on his face.

Vergil nodded. It seemed like what Dante had told him earlier was correct. If anything, he was relieved Nero had at least one of his parents in some capacity for at least a little while.

His son just let out a brittle laugh, burying his head in his hands. “If I didn’t already have enough reasons to despise this damned place…” he whispered so quietly he almost didn’t hear.

He wanted to ask, but doubted he would be willing to explain. Nor did he believe any comfort would be received well. He was not the comforting one in this family.

_Family._ When had he started to believe he had one of those once more?

After a couple minutes, Nero finally seemed to compose himself, looking down at the table and playing with the tablecloth. He pretended he did not see the suspicious wet spots of his cheek.

“How did… how did you two meet?” Nero asked softly.

Vergil smiled. A slightly bitter one full of regret, but still a smile. It hurt, but discussing the woman that both of them had adored…

“I had come to this island looking for information about my father. I did not find anything of note on that area, but what I did find…”

It hurt for the both of them, but trading stories of Aria… by the time they were interrupted because dinner needed to be made, Vergil started to hope that maybe his family was not anywhere near as out of reach as he had assumed for over thirty years. It would take time, but now he could have some sort of hope that this was one mountain he would be able to overcome.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm kind of amused that Kyrie ended up with the longest section. I mean she more than deserves it, but still.
> 
> You know, this is long enough already, but I actually had a lot more I meant to add but it didn't quite fit in and I'm sad. Especially since one of those things was Nico, but hey thanks to some fanart there will definitely be another fic taking place later that night with even more awkward Vergil.
> 
> There's also quite a few hints at certain things I do plan to talk about later regarding Fortuna and hints about Dante's life and situation. This one was mostly about Nero and Vergil after all, even if the scene changes almost seem kind of jarring. Might be because I added the times to somewhat emulate 5, not sure I'll be adding those again...
> 
> (Also, yes, they got out of Hell the same day as that final scene with Lady and Trish, but they never knew because they didn't pick up the phone. Irony is fun.)
> 
> (By the way, I do plan to write about Aria being alive at some point. Though as been hinted, I will say that I honestly believe that if she could have raised Nero herself she would have. If she had anyway to escape to the mainland with him so he wouldn't be raised in this environment she would have done it, but she couldn't, and so gave him to the orphanage after keeping her pregnancy a secret and did what she could to be at least some part of his life. Probably not all that important, but it backstory I decided to ramble about so...)


End file.
